Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches—Charles Godfrey Leland

Introduced by Christina Oakley Harrington
 
Charles Godfrey Leland (1824–1903) was an American folklorist and writer with a strong interest in Italian folk traditions and esotericism. Educated in the U.S. and Europe, he devoted much of his life to collecting folklore. His most famous and controversial work, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (1899), claimed to reveal an underground tradition of Italian witchcraft centered on the goddess Diana and her daughter Aradia.
 
Leland’s Aradia had a significant impact on the formation of modern witchcraft, shaping pagan practices and ideas throughout the 20th century and into the present day. The book presents a blend of myth, incantation, and instruction, centered on the figure of Aradia, a messianic witch said to be the daughter of the goddess Diana and the god Lucifer. As a spiritual rebel and teacher, Aradia is sent to earth to instruct the oppressed in the ways of witchcraft—offering both magical tools and a framework of resistance against religious and social tyranny. The text includes spells, rituals, invocations, and charms, often rooted in folk traditions but woven together with Leland’s own interpretive flair.
While Aradia’s influence on key figures such as Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente is well documented, it also served as a direct source of inspiration for a notable moment within the mythos of Alex and Maxine Sanders’ Alexandrian witchcraft. In more recent years, a variety of regionally specific folklore movements have emerged, many of which draw upon Aradia in new and imaginative ways. Notably, some Italian practitioners have begun to engage with the text as a foundation for developing contemporary spiritual practices, reinterpreting its themes within the context of their own cultural and magical traditions.